Coffee in the North

Bean Counter 15 Railway Place Fairfield

Tucked away behind Fairfield station this place offers a bit of peace away from the main drag. Milk based coffee will set you back 3.60 which I found pretty hefty (don’t know if this is the norm elsewhere), but if your having it black it’s still the standard 3 dollar affair. Di Bella’s Premium blend is used, which I found pretty bland. The company describes the blend as ‘pleasant’ but I think “boring” is a much better way to describe it. Atmosphere was relaxed and there is a gallery upstairs that you can check out as well. Probably the best spot I’ve been to in Fairfield but nothing here to go out of your way to visit.

Coffee in the North

Stuzzi 319-325 high st northcote

Opened about 8 years ago, Stuzzi is probably one of the most recognizable cafe’s on that high st strip. With huge red awnings and a glassed off footpath dining area, it’s hard to miss if your walking by. Unlike the last couple of cafe’s I’ve spoken about, Stuzzi is open from 8am to about 1130-12pm every day of the week. This probably makes it one of the only places you can go for coffee after about 5-6pm. The coffee used here is Ducale’s Reale Blend, which is pretty smooth tasting with low acidity with mild citrus notes. Coffee here is usually well prepared and there is generally enough staff to make sure you are looked after. Stuzzi is a very big space, so it is able to accommodate to large groups if your keen for a coffee after a night out or with a big group of mates or colleagues. Not a personal favourite but definitely worth a look if you need a hit and your favourite hang is closed.

Planning on doing both Palomino and Mixed Business over the coming days. Just need to refresh my memory in regards to what coffee they use.

Foxy Brown and the BFC Synchro

Spoke to owner Patrick Sloan about the BFC Synchro machine shown above, detailing the impressive specs of the machine. Designed by students from Monash University and made in Italy, according to Patrick the machine is capable of pulling 50 second double extractions without any blonding or burning (a pretty impressive feat). 20g baskets are used for every coffee and from personal experience I can vouch for the intense flavours this setup is producing. I made the mistake of not recording anything when we were speaking about the machine, but over the next few weeks I’m hoping to sit down with him and have a chat about the equipment as well as coffee in general.

His blog can be found here

Stay tuned!

Coffee in the North

The northern suburbs of our lovely city are known for the eclectic mix of people it attracts. It’s not unusual to see a scrangly looking, dreadlocked hippy sipping a latte merely meters from a group of elderly greek gentlemen enjoying their daily espresso. After living here for just under 2 years, I’ve sampled some of the best (and worst) coffees on offer in the Northcote/Thornbury area and I thought my huge amount of idle holiday time would be a good time to start writing about it. I work at a cafe on High st, and while I won’t name which one, I’ll include it in one of the writeups over the coming weeks.

Northern Soul 843 high st Thornbury

Expect a well prepared, moorish brew. Toby’s Estate Fair Trade Organic blend is used; a smooth-tasting, fruity affair. Atmosphere is relaxed and the staff are friendly. A personal favourite. For a full review click here

Foxy Brown 31 South Crescent Northcote

A relatively new cafe tucked away close to Dennis station. With their primary focus being quality coffee I had high expectations when I ventured there for the first time. The blend they use has been painstakingly created by owner Patrick Sloane in conjunction with Master Roaster Joshua  Bailey and I must say the effort has definitely paid off.  The individual components of the blend are also available (at different times I’m lead to believe) to be tried both in store and as beans to take home. From my experience these fell pretty flat in comparison to their blend, the single estate from New Guinea (Delorusa from memory~ will check when I go in next)  I tasted was fairly salty and uncomplex. It was simply dwarfed by the awesomeness that is their in-house blend.

The passion for the product is pretty clear from the outset. The first two pages of the menu are dedicated to the coffee available in house and to take home (as whole beans); precluding any mention of food whatsoever!

My only qualm with the place was the service (or lack-thereof) in our initial first few trips. Several items of our order were either wrong (no I didn’t order a long black for the second time) or simply failed to appear. While I appreciate the laid back atttiude, if you can’t remember a tables order please write it down!  They offer a fantastic product, and I’m confident once the teething problems are ironed out the service will match the self proclaimed “best brown in town”

Pictures and further writeups to come over the coming days

Aerosol Art FB/80 body @ Out of the Box

Tagged, Aerosol Art FB/80 body

Originally uploaded by Terryz1

Last week renowned espresso machine builders La Marzocco held “Out of the Box,” a showcase for the company and the direction they are taking.

Struggling to find much information about what went down at the moment, but I’ll post when I learn a bit more.

Bean out shopping today!

Since I bought the home espresso machine buying new beans has always been an exciting adventure. My humble Gaggia Classic has been a great way to explore new tastes and varieties you would usually miss out on at a cafe. Most cafe’s stick to pretty safe espresso blends and so you miss out on a huge variety of single/micro estate and some of the more adventurous blends.

old faithful

It’s great to engage with other coffee heads about what new beans they are enjoying and maybe even which ones to avoid. Most staff at the specialty stores will be just as passionate as you about the product so don’t be afraid to hit them up for a bit of advice or chat. A lot of the retailers will have an espresso machine (and maybe a syphon or filter setup if your lucky) so its entirely possible to try the beans you are interested in before you take them home.

For me it’s always the smell that lures me in once I get into one of those stores. Being a barista doesn’t lessen the attraction!  It’s not uncommon for me to down 4 or 5 coffees in one sitting just enjoying the unique characteristics of each coffee. Today’s adventure to Jasper in Fitzroy was no different with Kenya Peaberry being the eventual winner.

A few things to look for are packaging, roast date and how they are stored or displayed.

Coffee oxidizes when exposed to the open air, so it should be kept out of direct sunlight in sealed containers. While open buckets of beans might be great for the general aesthetics and smell of the store, it really isn’t the ideal way to keep the coffee fresh!

Some of the pre-packaged coffee even have these little nifty valves (I presume this is so the coffee can “breathe” but my knowledge is pretty limited) but the key thing with these is just to make sure there isn’t any holes in the packaging, and if there is a roast date make sure they aren’t over 2 months old!

A home machine is probably the best (and cheapest) way to continue exploring new flavours and even learning more about the characteristics different growing areas produce. My strongest recomendation is to do some research (if you don’t already own one) and buy a machine that suits your needs for the home. A good quality machine will last a long time, and the investment will be rewarding for your taste buds and your back pocket.

Fair Trade: What price for good coffee?

Interesting article published in Time on Monday.

Weighing it up.. A majority of coffee growers still struggle to make a livable profit

“It’s not enough to live on,” says Luis Antonio, who has grown coffee near Quetzaltenango, in Guatemala’s western highlands, for three decades but gets deeper in debt each year. “What we earn isn’t enough to buy food for our children.”

It is important to realise the limitations of initiatives like Fair Trade.

Few discussions around the topic:

http://coffeed.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=3049

http://slatest.slate.com/id/2229654/entry/3

Next Post

Much has been said about Melbourne being the home of cafe culture in Australia. From obscure laneways to office blocks, an espresso machine is barely ever a stones throw away. The veins of Melbourne are literally lined with crema. How then, do so many cafes and retailers still get away with selling an inferior product? For a city which so vigilantly defends its unofficial title of the home of coffee in Australia, the level of mediocrity accepted by consumers is simply astounding.

Cafe owners and aficionados alike kicked up a fuss earlier this year when Lord Mayor Robert Doyle accused the Melbourne coffee scene as being “overrated.” While Mr Doyle has already clocked up a considerable backlash for his numerous proposals and public statements, I think there is definitely some truths in this comment.

Call me a snob, but that 3.50 mushroom your trying to pass off as a soy latte just shouldn’t cut it in this city. As a coffee drinker and barista who basically only drinks espresso, I find it pretty confusing as to how a barista can still manage to get it wong. Just like any food or beverage preparation, your equipment should be clean and in this case dry. Why then am I shaking my head 5 minutes later when you present me with a dirty looking full cup of drain water?

oh dear

Profit from the sale of coffee basically trumps almost anything a cafe can sell, yet so many businesses fail to develop such a key element of their business. Our pavements may be lined with more cafe’s then any other city but if so many of them offer a pretty average product can we really crown ourselves the king of the bean?

15th Avenue- A positive inroad for specialty coffee?

It happens all the time.

A relatively unknown underground band goes big and gains mainstream recognition and success. The older fans cry out about the bands new direction and sound, declaring them sellouts and purge themselves of anything even remotely related to the group. A lot of us are guilty of it, and a lot of us will eventually do it. But is it such a bad thing when a band or product with a relatively niche following gets discovered by the wider public?

It is no secret that coffee aficionados have a deep disdain for Starbucks and all they have previously offered to the public. From the oily gloss of the beans to their cloned interiors, you don’t have to look very far to find someone whining about the chain on the internet. However in a move that shocked a lot of people, “the man” of the coffee industry took an interesting new direction earlier this year with the opening of 15th Ave Coffee & Tea in Capitol Hill, Seattle. The green giant has cornered itself into an awkward position in the U.S coffee industry. On one side you have the Mcdonalds and the Dunkin’ Doughnuts putting huge amounts of cash into promoting their espresso products while on the other end of the spectrum, the growing specialty industry. They no longer offer the cheapest, nor the best quality product. The opening of  15th Avenue in Seattle proves that the company is interested in dipping their feet into the higher end of the market which has been dominated by independent stores up until this point.

Out with the old..

In with the new!

With a completely re purposed interior and a focus on small batch, high quality product, the company is definitely taking steps to capturing back some of  the skeptics. Early reports on the coffee have been fairly positive and the resounding criticisms lay in the ideals behind the operation. The fact that a company like Starbucks is trying to manufacture the characteristics that exist already in independent, locally owned stores are the heart of criticisms about 15th Avenue. A multinational corporation is cashing in on the success of the smaller, independent, boutique retailers. This is seen as a bad thing by critics, but if anything, won’t it only make the market more competitive and  drive the quality of product further? Just because a business is independent doesn’t guarantee it offers a better quality product then a chain. If the only criticism lies in the way it attempts to manufacture the aesthetics of an independent store, then surely critics need to recognize the potential effect this expansion can have on the industry as well. It all seems a bit petty.

Much like the little independent band that went big, the specialty coffee industry is now getting some mainstream attention from the biggest player in the game. Whether you see it as a good or bad thing, if the new venture is successful we could see single estate espresso being offered in every second suburb in a few years time.

Couple of discussions and articles I found interesting:

http://coffeed.com/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2929

http://pourquality.blogspot.com/2009/07/new-rules.html#links

Cafe Femenino

While I was out recently having a coffee, I stumbled across a  blend from Jasper called Cafe Femenino.

The tasting notes were as follows:

“Sweet and silky with low acid, smooth and
full in the cup with a berry finish.”

It definitely makes for a unique espresso, and while I can not vouch for its taste in milk based coffee, I would recommend it to anyone looking  to experiment with some new flavours. Those berry afternotes definitely make for a nice way to finish off a tasty desert!

What is most notable about this coffee however, is the fact that is grown entirely by women farmers. Cafe Femenino is a social project run and organized by the Organic Products Trading Co. (OPTCO).  In cooperation with several other community groups, Cafe Femenino aims to counter the marginalization of women in rural areas by empowering them with the knowledge and tools to become coffee growers. In countries like Peru, abuse rates are estimated to be at roughly 41%. Much like the rest of the undeveloped world, the majority of family income will come from agriculture, and as a result only the men in the family are  educated. This has left women destined to a life of domestic chores and perhaps a passive role in these coffee growing communities. The project enables these women to earn an independent income from their male partners, thus improving the living conditions of the community and perhaps altering the typical gender roles for these areas.

The project is an example of the good work that is being done within the industry. Be sure to check out Jasper Coffee for their full range of fair-trade and organic products. It’s easy to do your part for these impoverished areas while still enjoying a quality coffee.

For more information on the project the website can be found here